


We Know Where We Belong

by allwaswell16



Series: Looking Through You [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blow Jobs, Bottom Louis, Clearly I'm not sure what kind of angst this but I don't think it's super angsty or anything, Concerts, Established Relationship, Famous Harry, Hand Jobs, Insecurity, Jealous Harry, Jealousy, Light Angst, M/M, Non-Famous Louis, POV Harry, POV Louis, POV Multiple, Party, Popstar Harry, Possessive Sex, Producer Louis, Smut, Songwriter Louis, Songwriting, Timestamp, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 17:51:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11041233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allwaswell16/pseuds/allwaswell16
Summary: After four years of friendship, pop star Harry Styles and his songwriter/producer Louis Tomlinson realise their feelings for each other go far beyond friendship and probably always did. Their path to falling for each other wasn't an easy one, but now they're together and in love. As Harry embarks on his next tour, some of their old issues arise again.





	We Know Where We Belong

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mylarryheart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylarryheart/gifts).



> This fic was written as part of an ongoing challenge. We each select random numbers and are given a specific emotion from the book 1000 Feelings For Which There Are No Names. To read the other fics written in this challenge, [click here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/ShortFic_Challenge_For_Which_There_Is_No_Name/works), or you can find the masterpost on tumblr [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/159679804243/1000-feelings-for-which-there-are-no-names-prompt).
> 
> Prompt #17: The anxiety when they check tickets, even though yours is valid.
> 
> This fic is part two of a much longer fic, but I have tried to write it also as a stand alone story. So if you don't want to read the first part, this should (hopefully) still make sense! I did not have time to have it Brit picked before the deadline, so please excuse any British errors. I'd be happy to change the British errors if you catch any. Please just send me a message to do so! Thank you!
> 
> Tin, thanks for the questions that led to this idea! You didn't even have to wait patiently for this one!

Harry strides confidently through the airport and out of the arrivals area with his bodyguard close beside him. All he can think about is finding one face in this crowd. He finds him quickly, a moth seeking out the flame. He’s been burned by this flame before, but he’s learning to trust in him now. They’re learning to trust in each other again, no longer just as friends though, but as something much more.

There’s a small amount of relief running through Harry when he finds Louis in the crowd. Only once has he stepped off an aeroplane in London to find Louis hadn’t come for him. It still haunts him a bit, though he tries not to let it show. The memories of those months he was separated from Louis by more than just distance are not ones he cares to remember very often. Although the pain has dulled, a shadow of it still remains in the background. He’s sure Louis feels it, too. 

When he sees the bright smile of recognition cross Louis’ face, the blinding light of it dazzles him like nothing else can. It’s only been a few days, but his frantic heart forgets that at the sight of his boy looking at him like that; it’s as if the intensity of his feelings are being mirrored back at him. Harry reaches for him and as soon as he’s close enough and whisks him into his arms. Louis’ feet leave the ground, and he makes a soft noise of protest that Harry ignores. 

He sets him down only to give him a proper kiss and say, “I missed you so much.”

“It was only a few days, Haz.” Louis’ tone is soft and not reproachful in the least. 

“Are you saying you didn’t miss me, then?” Harry pouts his lips comically and does his best impression of Liam’s puppy dog eyes.

Louis pulls him back, kissing away the pout. “Of course I did. Missed you as soon as you left my sight.”

Harry feels the grin spreading over his face. “Aw, Lou. You’re proper gone for me, mate.”

Louis huffs out a laugh. “Shut up, Styles. Let’s go home.”

As Louis drives them across London towards their flat, Harry can’t help but feel uninterested in anything outside this car. He loves the way he can look at Louis now that they’re together. For years, he’s felt an odd constraint that was always holding him back from looking his fill at the man sat beside him. That’s gone and has been replaced by a hungry stare that he occasionally has trouble controlling in public. He’s always been quite affectionate with Louis, but now there’s not a hint of strangeness about reaching out to trace Louis’ jaw, letting the stubble scratch his fingertips. He shivers at the thought of how he’d like to feel that scratch more intimately. He watches colour wash into Louis’ cheeks and knows he must be thinking similar thoughts. 

They’re barely through the door before Louis is pressing him back up against it. Louis presses a hard kiss to his lips as Louis reaches beneath his shirt to caress the bare skin of his back, and then suddenly his lips are gone. Harry opens his eyes at the loss in time to see and feel Louis quickly unbutton his jeans and peel them off down to his ankles. Louis sinks to his knees and kisses up his legs, rubbing his cheek against Harry’s bare upper thighs. 

Harry can feel his legs tremble at the attention.

“This what you were thinking about in the car?” Louis asks him. “Thinking about the burns this will give you on your pretty white thighs?”

Harry whimpers as he threads his fingers through Louis’ soft hair. “Please, Lou. Please.”

There’s something about the way the scratch of it feels on his thighs that goes straight to Harry’s dick. The possessiveness of marking him, the tingling pressure of it, the nearness to his cock. And then, he’s suddenly being taken into the warm, wet heat of Louis’ mouth, and he chokes out a cry of pleasure at the feeling. He tries to watch, but it’s nearly too much for him to see Louis palming himself as he takes Harry down his throat. To know how it affects Louis is almost too much to bear. He comes so quickly it’s almost embarrassing. He slides to the floor, the door at his back. He breathes in the moment before he pushes Louis onto his back and climbs over him, tugging his trackies down over his bum before he slides up alongside him. He stares into Louis’ eyes as he slides Louis’ dick in his fist. He watches as Louis looks back at him wide-eyed and helpless to look away from his stare. A few strokes is all it takes to have Louis coming into the palm of his hand. 

He gathers Louis up in his arms and carries him into their now shared bedroom. He deposits him carefully onto the bed before going to get a flannel to clean them up and then crawls into the bed and wraps himself around Louis. 

“Like a bloody octopus now, are you?” Louis says as Harry throws a leg over him. 

“Yes,” Harry says, his face pressed into Louis’ hair. “Got my tentacles all over you.”

“Well, I’d let your tentacles do what they may, but I’m going to need to be up in about twenty minutes.”

“What? Why?” Harry mumbles, his brain already trying to shut out this information and go to sleep with Louis in his arms. 

“Oh, maybe you’ve forgotten? You’ve been so busy and all, but--ehm--The 1975 are having their album release thing at Matty’s tonight.” Harry involuntarily stiffens, but Louis continues on. “I said I’d come, and obviously you’re welcome to come as well.”

Harry vaguely recalls the conversation about this, but he apparently had then promptly forgotten about it. 

“Do you want me to go?” Harry sighs. The only thing worse than going to this thing would be  _ not _ going to this thing, but he’d rather hear it from Louis.

“Of course, I want you to come!” Louis says as he shuffles in Harry’s octopus tentacles so that they’re facing each other. Then, Louis wiggles his eyebrows. “Always want you to  _ come _ .”

“Don’t make me coming to their album release party into something dirty, thank you.”

Louis laughs. “Please, Haz?”

Harry grunts in what he hopes sounds like acquiescence. 

“Thanks, love.” Louis says happily. “Okay, now I need your octopus arms to release me.”

“Tentacles.” Harry corrects. 

“Sure, Haz. Tentacles.”

He releases Louis from his hold and watches him as he heads off to shower. He groans before he makes himself get up and start looking through his wardrobe for something appropriate to wear to this album release. It’s not even a real party exactly because of course Matty can’t do things in a normal way. No, it’s a twitter party where people can live tweet listening to the album as soon as it releases. He remembers now how excited Louis sounded talking about how interactive it was, and how fans from all over the world can participate in it. Fine, it is a bit cool, but whatever. It’s just now he’s got to go to Matty’s house and be with Matty and his friends all night. Not what he really wants to do on his long weekend before he heads back out on tour. 

If he’s honest, he’s a bit scared to head off on the rest of this tour. He’s played all the UK dates now and just got back from Ireland, and Louis has been able to come to nearly every show. They’ve hardly had to be apart. It just simply isn’t going to be the case as he heads out on the rest of the European leg of his tour. He knows Louis will have to be in London to work on Shawn Mendes’ new album, and there are some new artists that he knows Liam has been keen on Louis meeting so they can work on songs for them as well. Surely, Louis will fly out to as many shows as possible, but he certainly can’t be at them all. Harry wouldn’t want him to make that kind of sacrifice anyway. 

Harry finds his tightest pair of jeans and a printed shirt he can leave mostly unbuttoned and lays them out on the bed. So what if he knows this is Louis’ favourite look on him? He hears the shower turn off, so he goes into the loo and gives Louis a rough kiss before he heads into the inviting warmth of the shower himself. As the water beats down on him, he tries not to let it unsettle him that the last time he went on tour had been the beginning of the end of their friendship. And yes, now they have something much more than that, but he can’t help but remember how Louis had used that distance to try and get over him. It makes his breath unsteady just thinking about it, thinking about Louis on a date with someone else. Louis trying to figure out a life without him. 

He knows this isn’t fair though to live in the past like this. Louis  _ didn’t _ get over him. Louis  _ did _ explain himself. Louis  _ does _ want to be with him. It’s enough. 

Louis seems suitably impressed by his outfit, given he stopped talking mid-sentence when he saw it, so he lets that sustain his confidence in spending time with--not his favourite people. It’s not even that Matty and his band are so awful; they’re not. He’s just used to Louis’ friends adopting him as well. Liam, Niall, Zayn, Ed. And Matty has decidedly  _ not _ adopted him. It also doesn’t help that this is who Louis spent all his time with when their friendship was falling apart. This is who Louis wrote bitter songs with that were about him. Maybe that’s not fair though either because Louis also wrote bitter songs about him with Liam and for Niall as well. He runs his hand through his hair and huffs out a laugh. He wrote his share of bitter songs about Louis, too, he supposes. 

Louis seems a bit nervous as he drives them towards Hackney. He can tell by the way he keeps tapping the steering wheel as he talks about various bits of gossip and not a word about The 1975. 

When the door is flung open, they’re met with a shirtless Matty Healy holding a bottle of wine and two lit cigarettes, one in his mouth and one between his fingers. He offers both up to them in greeting. 

Harry clears his throat. “Ehm, no, but thank you.”

Matty shrugs and leads them into the kitchen where George takes the cigarette from his fingers. “You’re going to burn yourself for fuck’s sake.” George tosses the cigarette in the sink where it sizzles for a moment. “Not going to be able to tweet with burnt fingertips now are you? And I’m bloody well not doing all the tweets. Louis, you’re still doing the behind the scenes one, yes?”

“Oh, yeah. Sure. I’ve got it on my phone, so we’re fine there.” Louis answers. Harry turns to him in surprise. He didn’t know Louis was a part of any of this. 

Louis smiles at him a little weakly before fetching him a glass of wine and then looking through the kitchen for food. “You never know if there will be nothing in the house but crisps and biscuits or if there’ll be twenty boxes of curry.” Louis frowns. “Maybe we should have eaten something before we came.”

Matty seemingly appears out of nowhere behind them. “No, no! We’ve got pizzas coming. They all have pineapple on them though, I’m afraid.”

“You wouldn’t!” Louis gasps. “That’s evil! Ruining perfectly good pizza with fruit!”

“Guess you’ll have to wait and see, mate.” Matty grins. “What about you, Harry Styles? Do you like pineapple on your pizza?”

“Ehm, it’s okay.” Harry answers. 

“Harry Styles has spoken. Pineapple on pizza for everyone!” Matty declares loudly. Harry really hates how Matty calls him by his full name. He must have stiffened because suddenly he feels Louis’ hand at the small of his back, and that small pressure is enough to ground him. He sighs into the gentle touch.

There really aren’t many people here. Just the band and a few friends and a few people not dressed like musicians. Harry would guess at least one of those people are here to approve Matty’s tweets. He sips the wine as he looks at the blown up album cover on a stand. It seems to show neon lights in a square shape standing in a bare room with “The 1975” in pastel pink neon lights. There’s a similar one actually in the room now casting a pink glow across the room that catches his eye. It reads “I LIKE IT WHEN YOU SLEEP, FOR YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL YET SO UNAWARE OF IT. This simply can’t be real. 

“Why does it say that?” Harry manages to choke out.

“What?” Louis looks at the lighted words. “You mean the name of the album?”

“ _ That’s the name of the album? _ ” Harry hisses.

Louis looks at him as if he’s got two heads. “Yes? Why are you--”

“He named the album after that Instagram photo he posted of you sleeping in his bed?” Harry accuses.

“Ohhhhh. God.” Louis says, recognition seeming to dawn on his face. Louis grabs him by the hand and leads him out into the garden where only a few people have congregated. 

When they’re sufficiently out of earshot, Louis turns him to face him. “Harry, are you--jealous?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Harry bellows. The other people in the garden turn to look over at them. “Of course, I’m fucking jealous. What the fuck, Louis? Why is his album called that?”

Louis starts laughing hysterically. If Harry weren’t so bloody angry, he could properly appreciate how Louis’ eyes crinkle in the corner when he laughs and how he throws his head back and presses a hand to his chest as though to contain the laughter that bubbles out of him. Okay, so he can still sort of appreciate it. He waits whilst Louis tries to get ahold of himself. 

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just--no.” He starts giggling again before Harry presses his lips into a firm line clearly unamused. Louis clears his throat. “Ahem. Sorry. Yeah, so the album is  _ not _ named after me.”

“But that’s what--”

“No, I know. It’s just that’s not where that sentence came from. It’s sort of an inside joke within the band. George woke up one day with a note next to him that said that. It was clearly in Matty’s handwriting, but he didn’t have any memory of writing it. Matty insists he’s at his most poetic when it’s the middle of the night and he’s drunk, but yeah. That’s where it comes from. Not about me at all, really. Honestly, Matty’s probably forgotten he ever posted that photo. Is it even still there? Maybe he’s--”

“Yes, it’s still there.” Harry interrupts. 

“Oh. Well, I swear that never meant what I guess you thought it meant.” Louis gives him a wistful smile. “You’d gone home to Cheshire and weren’t really speaking to me, Harry. I was sad and heartbroken, and he was just my friend trying to offer me refuge. I actually remember I kept my jeans on because I didn’t trust him not to prank me somehow.”

Now that he’s had a strop about it, he feels a tiny bit silly that it had nothing to do with Louis in the first place. He’s been too busy with the tour to pay attention much to what’s been happening in music beyond his own small world. He really wishes he’d known the name of the album before this party. 

He mumbles his assent to the idea that it has nothing to do with Louis and lets himself be led back inside the house. As soon as they step back inside, Matty stands directly in their path. He looks absolutely delighted about something, and Harry’s pretty sure he’s not going to like whatever Matty is about to say.

“Walk with me, Harry Styles.” Matty says as he slings an arm around Harry’s neck and leads him into the living room. “We’re about to start tweeting artwork that goes along with each song as they play, but I just had a really great idea to do a little something extra. Louis’s gonna post that behind the scenes video, but I thought since  _ you’re _ here and all maybe you’d like to help us do a little something extra as well.”

Harry’s even more sure he won’t like whatever Matty’s idea is that has to do somehow with him. “See, Harry, we have a song on our album that’s about you, as you know.”

Harry stiffens. Yes, he fucking knows. Louis just had to write a bitter song that includes a reference to him calling Louis whilst he was wanking. The radio airwaves are already filled with Louis’ stinging verses in Harry’s own songs as well as one of Niall’s that’s become quite popular. He’s sure The 1975 will put out The Sound as a single as well, and his torture will be complete. 

“Well,” Matty continues. “I was thinking you may want to distance yourself a little from it, so I’ve come up with a brilliant plan!”

Whilst this sounds good in theory, Harry knows better than to trust in any idea of Matty’s.

“Mmhmm. So what’s the plan?” He asks skeptically.

Matty finally stops in place in front of an array of photographs taped to the wall. They’re presumably the artwork that will be tweeted as he notices they all appear to be song titles done in pink neon lights. Matty taps one with his finger that reads, ‘LOVE ME.’ 

“We just shot the video for ‘Love Me.’ It’s the first single.” Matty states.

“Okay,” Harry answers as Louis sidles up next to him. “Not sure what that has to do with me.”

“Well, Harry Styles. The video features cardboard cutouts of many celebrities including you.”

“You used a cardboard cutout of me in your video?”

“Yes.” Matty doesn’t seem to note any astonishment on Harry’s part and just barrels on. “And it just so happens I have the cardboard cutouts here. So I thought maybe you’d like to take a photo with yourself, and then we’ll tweet it! No one will really get it now, but then when the video comes out it’ll all make sense.”

He’s got no idea why there would be a cardboard cutout of him in a The 1975 video, but he’s too tired to care really at this point. His silence must be being interpreted by Matty as acceptance because Matty immediately leaves him standing there and runs off. Matty returns as promised with a nearly life size cardboard cutout of him.

Harry purses his lips. “That’s from five years ago.”

“What?”

“That cutout! That’s what I looked like five years ago!”

Louis chokes on a laugh that he quickly stifles when Harry shoots a glare at him.

“But this is like ‘iconic’ Harry Styles, you know? We had to go with this version, I think.” Matty speaks as if somehow all of this makes sense. 

Matty eyes him for a moment, critically. “You don’t seem to be seeing the fun in all this, so I’m going to suggest we take the photo and ask questions later. Like after you’ve heard the song.”

“Fine, Just--give me the bloody Harry Styles.” He grabs the likeness of himself and rolls his eyes before he stands to pose with it. He turns toward Matty and Louis and realises they’ve already taken the photo.

“That was bloody fantastic, Harry Styles.”

“Please stop calling me, Harry Styles.”

“Well, that’s your name, innit?” Matty asks curiously as though Harry is the one being unreasonable.

“Yes, but no one here is walking around calling you Matthew Healy now are they?” Harry accuses. 

“Fair point, mate.” Matty says with a grin. “Now, Harry, they’re about to start the album, and ‘Love Me’ is the second song on the track list. When you’re listening, just remember, this song is not actually written about you. Well, not you in particular.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Harry asks as Matty saunters over to begin tweeting with the band. “Have you heard this song, Louis?”

Louis is looking at him nervously. “Um, I didn’t realise that was the song he was talking about when he asked you to take that photo.”

“Lou. What’s the song about?”

“Um. It’s mostly about fame, I guess. And craving attention, a bit. Well, just remember it’s actually quite a self deprecating song.”

Harry groans. “Right. Except I’m in the video as a cardboard cutout symbol of attention seeking fame. Great.”

“Well, I suppose you could look at it that way--”

The music begins and Harry listens to the lyrics to ‘Love Me’ imagining what Matty could possibly be doing in the video. 

> _ A bag of bash for passion _
> 
> _ You've got a beautiful face but got nothing to say (Oh!) _
> 
> _ You look famous, let's be friends _
> 
> _ And portray we possess something important _
> 
> _ And do the things we like, meaning _
> 
> _ We've just come to represent _
> 
> _ A decline in the standards of what we accept _

Louis offers him a sickly smile. “I guess you’re not too impressed.”

“Oh, it’s just my luck that it’ll be a hit.” Harry sighs as he heads back into the kitchen for more wine. He’s definitely going to need more wine. 

By the time they get to the track he’s been dreading most, he’s had plenty to drink. As Matty sings,  _ I don’t regret it, but I’m glad that we’re through/ So don’t you tell me that you just don’t get it/ ‘cause I know you do,  _ Harry raises his glass to Louis. 

“Aw, babe, you’re not still--mad about this song are you?” Louis asks. “It was kind of a long time ago--”

“Not that long ago.” Harry grumbles as he takes another sip of wine. “You know I love your song, Lou, but also, I hate your song.”

Louis barks out a laugh. “Yes, love. I know. But I’m yours now, and you’re mine. And that’s what matters here, right?”

“So you’re mine, are you?” He growls into Louis’ ear.

Louis visibly shivers. “Um, I think we’ve stayed long enough, don’t you?” Louis abruptly jumps up and drags Harry over to Matty and says a quick goodbye with Matty smirking after them as they exit. Louis seems to be trying to quickly make his way through the dark London night, and soon they’re stumbling out of their elevator and into their flat. 

Harry immediately backs Louis through to the kitchen until he’s got Louis bumped up against the counter. “Say you’re mine, again.”

Louis lips his licks and watches him, wide-eyed. “I’m yours.”

God, that really does something to him when he hears that. He starts ripping at Louis’ clothes until he’s standing naked in front of him. He sets Louis up on the counter, and Louis clings to him as Harry nips at his neck and then soothes it a bit. Louis’ open legs invite him between them, and Harry presses against him, feeling Louis’ hardness against his stomach. He wraps Louis’ legs around his waist and presses his fingers up under Louis arse and hoists him up, carrying him off to their bed. Looming over Louis laid out on the bed, he thinks about how he wants to make sure Louis is filled with him, only him, before he has to share Louis with anyone else. 

“Sometimes, I don’t like to share your attention.” Harry admits aloud as he slicks up his fingers and teases one just at the entrance to Louis’ hole.

“You’ve got all my attention now.” Louis hisses as Harry as he tries to press in on Harry’s finger. 

Harry laughs. “Glad to hear it.”

Louis gasps as Harry finally presses one finger inside him. He watches Louis writhe a bit on the bed as he presses in another finger. God, the sight of him spread out like this across the crisp white sheets, his blue eyes dark, his muscles straining, his hair in wild disarray on the pillow. Fuck, he’s so beautiful. Before he can think, he’s slicking himself up and moaning at the sensation of sliding inside Louis.

He finds a rhythm as Louis encourages him to go faster, harder.

“You’re mine. You’re mine.” Harry repeats it over and over until they’re both coming, breathless. 

After, as they lay beside each other, their hearts still beating out of their chests, Louis says, “You know, I have to share you with the whole word, Harry. It’s not always easy for me either.”

“I know. I never said I was being rational, Lou.” Harry snorts. He yawns and closes his eyes as he wraps his arms and legs around Louis. Like an octopus he smiles to himself. He’s about to drift off to sleep, “You’ll come see me on the rest of tour this time. This time you’ll come to Barcelona.  Not like last time.”

///

Not like last time. 

Not like last time. Louis hears this as a refrain over and over in his head. Liam’s chattering on and on about something as he drives him to the airport, but he’s having a hard time concentrating on whatever he’s saying. He can’t fuck this up like last time. He knows that the last time Harry was in Barcelona he had walked the streets composing  _ Where Do Broken Hearts Go  _ after Louis failed to be there with him in the place that had always meant so much to them. Not to mention that he’d bailed on him in Lisbon and Stockholm when he’d promised to come, and then when Harry had begged him to come to Paris through Liam because Louis never answered his calls, he’d left Harry a pathetic voicemail claiming to be poorly and given him empty promises to come to shows in the States. 

He winces thinking back about it all. He honestly thought it was best at the time. The sooner he was over Harry, the sooner he could resume their friendship. He should have known there’s no getting over Harry Styles. He grins a little to himself. He can’t wait to see him. It’s only been a week since he last saw him on the Milan stop of his tour, but he knows how important it is to be here for the days Harry will spend in Barcelona. 

As Liam pulls up to the drop off area, Louis checks his carry on bag to make sure the ticket and boarding pass he printed out is still there. It’s not in the first pocket he checks, and he has a brief moment of panic as he quickly digs through his bag looking for it. He pulls it out of the third place he checks with a sigh of relief. 

“Mate, why’d you print out the tickets? Don’t you have them on your phone?”

“Excuse you, Liam, but it’s very important that I get on this aeroplane. I’ve printed them out just to be safe as well as the boarding pass.”

Liam gives him a sweet look. “Awww, Lou--”

“Piss off, Li.” Louis says. He smiles at him though as he gives him a brief half hug in the car before he climbs out and heads into Heathrow. 

He drops his suitcase at the bag drop kiosk and heads for security. He’s given what he thought was plenty of time to board, but the security lines are long. He tries not to let it get to him. He’s got plenty of time, surely. When he’s finally close, he readies his passport and tries to pull up the boarding pass on his phone, but the wifi suddenly spins and spins. He fumbles with the phone trying to turn it off and just use data. 

“Sir, do you have your boarding pass out?”

“Um, yes. Sorry. It was on my phone and now, of course, it’s not working properly, and--” He stops when he sees how unimpressed the person checking looks. “Uh, right. Doesn’t matter because I printed them, too.”

“Fuck.” He mutters as he searches his bag. Not in the first pocket he checks. Or the second or third. He finally finds it in the side pocket. He presents an unfortunately crumpled paper boarding pass with an embarrassed smile before he’s allowed through the line. 

He’s sweating it a bit as he makes his way to his gate and collapses into a seat nearby. He just needs things to go well here. He’s taking an early afternoon flight, so there’ll be plenty of time to be there in time for tonight’s concert. Then, he and Harry will have a few glorious days in their favourite city. It’s fine. Everything will be fine. 

“Passenger Louis Tomlinson, please come to Gate 16. Passenger Louis Tomlinson to Gate 16.”

He sits bolt upright in surprise and then makes his way to the desk next to his gate.

“Um, hello. I’m Louis Tomlinson. Is there a problem? My ticket--”

“Hello, Mr. Tomlinson. You’ve been upgraded to first class by someone named--” The woman at the desk briefly glances down at her computer screen. “Jacky?” 

Ah. Harry’s personal assistant. He smiles. He refuses to let Harry buy his tickets, but he’s apparently found a different way to spoil him. “Oh. Okay, well, thank you.”

“Here is your new boarding pass, Mr. Tomlinson, and you can also please make your way to our VIP lounge area to wait. Susette will take you there now, sir.” She motions to a woman who appears beside him with a smile. 

He follows Susette to a very posh lounge area to await his flight. “Mr. Tomlinson, I will let you know when it’s ready to board and a vehicle will drive you directly to the aircraft.”

Well, okay then. He sips a glass of champagne before going back to just water. It makes him a bit wary, all this attention. He doesn’t really need to be sat back here with--is that Keira Knightley? He sinks further back into the comfortable armchair and stares at his phone. 

“Mr. Tomlinson?” Susette appears next to him looking a bit nervous. “I’m so sorry to bother you, sir, but it appears your flight has been delayed. Is there anything I can get you? Something to eat or drink? We have personal shoppers if you’d like to help you shop to pass the time--”

“How delayed is it? I need to get to Barcelona!” He can hear the panic in his voice. “Is there another flight? How delayed are we talking here?”

Susette appears a little alarmed. “Well, sir, the aeroplane for your flight is stuck in Brussels, I’m afraid, so they’re locating another or may wait for--”

“Brussels?” Louis exclaims. “No, no, no. I have to get to Barcelona! He’ll think I’m not coming, and--”

“Well, I’ll go check immediately on other flights, sir. I’ll be back momentarily.” 

Louis can’t help it. He begins pacing the room, anxiously awaiting Susette’s return. 

She nervously approaches him after about ten minutes of his pacing. “Mr. Tomlinson, I afraid all I could find you was an economy class ticket on a flight that leaves in an hour.”

“Oh thank god. Yes, I’ll take that one, please.”

“Well, if you’re sure, sir, I’ll--”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure!”

Susette comes back with new boarding passes. “I’m not sure of the protocol here as this doesn’t usually happen, but I’m sure it’s fine if you remain in the VIP lounge seeing as how you’ve paid for it through the other ticket--”

Louis just smiles. “Don’t worry, Susette. I’m fine with going to the gate. Honestly, I’d rather just be as close as possible to the aeroplane. Make sure it doesn’t leave without me.” 

He grabs his bag and phone and makes his way to the new gate where he anxiously awaits boarding there. He’ll still be there in plenty of time for the concert. No reason to contact Harry with any of this yet. He feels a slight pang of guilt that he’s not using the upgrade Harry paid for, but he just does not care at this point. All he can think about is getting to Harry and seeing him and making sure Harry knows how important he is to him. 

When it’s finally time to board, he stands in line, his nerves on edge. He pulls up the ticket on his phone and readies it to be scanned.

“I’m sorry, but this doesn’t seem to be valid.”   
  


“What? Oh, right. Sorry. I have the proper one right here. I just had to get a new flight and that’s probably the old one and--” He can hear people grumbling behind him. 

“Sorry, sorry!” He throws over his shoulder as he searches his bag. He pulls out one crumpled ticket and examines it. Nope, that’s the first one. He finds another, but that turns out to be the upgraded one. 

“I’m so sorry. It’s right here somewhere--” He fumbles through god knows how many pockets before finding the correct one. 

“Ah hah!” He shouts triumphantly as he accidentally shoves it a bit too forcefully at the airline employee. 

He clears his throat. “Sorry, mate.” 

He scurries on board before he can cause even more problems. The flight itself is uneventful, and he’s only an hour or so behind schedule. He’s not going to have much time at the hotel to freshen up before Harry needs to leave for the concert. 

He impatiently waits for his suitcase to make its appearance. He starts to get a sneaking suspicion it’s not coming when nearly everyone from his flight has collected their suitcases and left. Fuck. It’s probably because he switched flights at the last minute. He manages to find someone to direct him to the lost property office and fills out a form as quickly as he can before he quickly leaves to find a taxi. He gives the taxi driver the hotel address and becomes more and more anxious when he realises that the hotel is not anywhere near the venue. Why hadn’t he planned for this? He should have looked up the hotel before now. When he finally reaches the hotel, he frantically speaks with the concierge and gets a room key and lets himself be escorted to whatever insane suite that’s been booked for Harry. 

It’s clear Harry’s already left for the venue, and Louis is already panicked that Harry is taking this badly. Fuck. He’d really hoped to be here on time. He sends a text that goes unanswered, and that’s when he really starts to worry. He luckily does have one change of clothes in his carry on bag, so he changes into a pair of jeans and opts to steal one of Harry’s t-shirts. No time for a shower, he decides. 

He races back out of the hotel and into another taxi to take him across the city. Of course, there’s traffic. For fuck’s sake. He sends another text. He can see from updates on twitter that the opening act is already on stage. He groans and runs his fingers nervously over the hair that hangs across his forehead. 

He arrives at the venue with no clue where to go, praying he sees a familiar face. Of course, he doesn’t. He texts Jacky who promptly texts back with where to meet her to get a backstage pass. Thank god for Jacky. She shoots him a comforting smile as she leads him to Harry. He’s simply not going to feel better until he gets to Harry. He wants to be able to look him in the eyes and assure him he’s here. 

Their relationship was never simple, not even as friends, and it holds particular minefields that Louis seems to be having trouble not tripping. As he makes his way down long corridors with Jacky finally headed towards his boy, he thinks back to a few weeks ago when he’d accidentally triggered Harry’s jealousy about Matty. Definitely a sore point between them. It’s one he really doesn’t like if he’s honest. Even if it does sometimes lead to amazing sex. He has no intention of ditching Matty now that he’s in a relationship with Harry, but sometimes it just seems like it would be easier not to see him to avoid walking on eggshells about it. 

As soon as Harry opens the door to his dressing room, Louis throws himself into his arms. “I’m so sorry, love! I’m so sorry that I’m so late. You’ve no idea how frustrating it’s been to try to get to you in time, and I--” His voice catches, and Harry immediately holds him away from his body.

“Lou? What’s wrong?” Harry looks at him, concerned. “Christ, you’re clammy. Just breathe, babe.”

Louis takes a few cleansing breaths and melts back into Harry’s arms. “I just didn’t want you to think I wasn’t coming this time. I know how upset you were the last time you were here.”

“Oh, Louis, Jesus.” Harry hugs him more tightly. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. You can’t freak out just because you’re a little late to a show. I’m not upset, and I promise that I had no doubt you were on your way to me.”

“I promise I won’t ever disappoint you again, Harry.”

“Louis, you can’t promise me that. Of course, we’ll have disappointments. We just need to keep talking through them though, and not let them eat us up.”

Harry steps away only so he can press his lips to Louis’ forehead and then his cheek and finally his lips. Harry cups his face in his large hands and smiles. “I don’t want us to keep holding onto the past, onto the things that we thought might have hurt the other. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about my little jealous outburst at The 1975 party. I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking you away from your friends. It was more the timing than anything else. I should have just talked to you about how scared I was to head back out on tour. And for me, Matty is in my head as the person you turned to when you didn’t want to be with me.”   
  


“Always wanted to be with you, Harry. If we’re laying all our cards on the table, you should probably know that I didn’t really turn to him when it came down to it. When I was really hurting, I went to Liam like I have since I was a kid. Matty was a good friend to me though, he always had a distraction ready when I needed one.”

“I’m glad honestly. That you had someone who wanted to help when you needed them. The band was like that for me. They definitely humoured me, going around to all our old tourist destinations as I moped. Speaking of that--I have a surprise for you after my show. We’ll talk more later, yes?”

“Yes! Go! I’ll be there in the audience, watching.”

“Good. I actually have a couple of surprises up my sleeve.” The expression of fondness on Harry’s face nearly buckles his knees, but he lets Harry go out on stage to perform. He takes his place in a roped off area for friends and family--and boyfriends. 

He watches as his boy blows the roof off the place. When they come to the end of the concert, Harry quiets the crowd for a moment.

“Hello, I hope you’ve been enjoying the show. I’ve got a bit of a surprise for you all. It’s a new song that I’d like to try out if no one minds.”

Harry pretends as though he’s waiting for their response. The deafening roar of the crowd seems to meet his approval as a response. “Good, good. Glad to hear it. My boyfriend is in the crowd tonight, and I’d just like to say that this one is for you, Lou. The first lines are even more true tonight. This is ‘Sweet Creature.”

> _ Sweet creature _
> 
> _ Had another talk about where it’s going wrong _
> 
> _ But we’re still young _
> 
> _ We don’t know where we’re going, but we know where we belong _

Louis’ heart burns like the sun as Harry sings about them--about what their love is like to him and how they’re figuring out how to be together in a new way. 

> _ And ohhhh, we started _
> 
> _ Two hearts in one home _
> 
> _ It’s hard when we argue _
> 
> _ We’re both stubborn I know _

Louis smiles and barks out a laugh that no one but Harry will know about because Harry’s the only one looking at him right now. In a stadium full of people watching Harry, Harry is watching him.

> _ Wherever I go, you bring me home _
> 
> _ Sweet creature, sweet creature _
> 
> _ When I run out of road, you bring me home. _

Louis presses a hand to his chest to stem the tide of emotions that are threatening to spill out of him. As the song ends and the lights fade to black, Louis quickly makes his way backstage to Harry.

There Harry is--waiting for him. Louis knows now that they’ll always wait for each other. They’ve been making a home together since the moment they met all those years ago in a shitty pub as Liam sat beside them, laughing, knowing more about what was happening than they did at the time. 

Louis presses his lips to Harry’s and feels Harry wipe tears off his cheeks that he hadn’t even noticed had fallen. “I can’t imagine what other surprise you could have for me. The song--it means everything to me, Harry. Thank you.”

Harry smiles and kisses him again. “I’m glad you liked your song, Lou. The other surprise is right here.” Harry releases him to walk across the room and picks up a beaten up old journal. 

“I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve always kept my old journals. And yes, there is a lot about you written into these pages that if I’d reread them I’d probably have known I’ve always been in love with you. But I found something in the pages that I wanted us to look at.” Harry opens to a page and grins as he holds it out to Louis. 

Louis looks at the page curiously and sees a list. No, not a list. An itinerary. It’s titled ‘Barcelona With Louis’ and has a long list of things to do in Barcelona. It must be from their first visit here.

“Thought we could finish marking off the list.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you liked it, please leave kudos and/or a comment! [If you reblog this fic post, I shall love you forever!](http://allwaswell16.tumblr.com/post/161241029576/we-know-where-we-belong-by-allwaswell16) <3 
> 
> Song credits: The Sound by The 1975, Sweet Creature by Harry Styles
> 
> Thank you, taggiecb, for looking this over for me at the last minute! You're the best! xx


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